March 24, 2014

It's not just one very wet town either, it's a chunk of northern Italy that includes cities as big as Trieste and Trento.

The referendum was non binding, and is being dismissed by the Italian government, but 89% is a big enough share of the vote that the issue is not going away.

We in the US might arguably loose our status as the oldest existing
republic...Venice was once an independent republic and was at one time
an economic powerhouse that contributed greatly to the Renaissance. Its
system of government was referenced in debates on the US
constitution.Venice was probably the longest lived Republic in history,
lasting 1100 years. The 200 odd years since its destruction by
the Jacobins spans less than a tenth of the time it existed. In fact
after the Napoleonic Wars the region fought for and eventually gained
their independence from Austria Hungary and re-established the republic
(as San Marco) for 17 months only to have the area reconquered and later annexed by Italy.

Now the people of Northeastern Italy, fed up with
Italian corruption and high taxes have held a referendum with 89% of the
vote in favor of secession. The area has always been somewhat
culturally distinct from the rest of Italy since its absorption.

Elsewhere in Italy, Sardinia is also looking to secede but is going about it differently. They are not just attempting to leave Italy, they are petitioning to accede into Switzerland, pointing out that the 8 new cantons would bring with them BEACHES, which Switzerland rather lacks at the moment.

Here are two maps I couldn't find last night that do a better job with scale and position:

It's a bit smaller than West Virginia., but it's on the Adriatic...and a
good chunk of it is in the Alps. It also , encompasses a good bit of the
fertile Po Valley, borders the Po river and contains, in addition to the tourist centers like Venice and Alpine ski lodges, Trieste, a major deepwater port and shipbuilding center. There is a a good deal of hydroelectric power, as well as there are established timber farms as well as various mines in the Alps.the area, especially around Trieste is a major trade corridor for eastern Europe, This little lot of land just generally seems to
have been designed by geographers for maximum "win"on minimum space.